


Man of Steel, Man of Kleenex

by TW Lewis (gardendoor)



Category: Smallville
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-11-18
Updated: 2002-11-18
Packaged: 2017-10-29 00:56:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/314076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gardendoor/pseuds/TW%20Lewis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clark's powers can be deadly, but Luthors are not very good at accepting limitations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Man of Steel, Man of Kleenex

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimers: Clark, Lex and the others aren’t mine. That honor belongs to Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, DC comics, Warner, and a partridge in a pear tree. Sticky stuff ensues -- and by sticky I mean two sweaty men going at it -- so this is your last chance to turn back. For continuity fanatics, this story takes place in Season 2 and contains spoilers for "Heat" and "Ryan". If you want to know more about Larry Niven’s (in)famous essay, [Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex](http://www.larryniven.org/stories/Man_of_Steel_Woman_of_Kleenex.htm), or Tom Smith’s musical rendition of the same, [Superman’s Sex Life Boogie](http://www.tomsmithonline.com/lyrics/sslb.htm), follow the links.

***Chapter I: What I Am***

Lex looked up from the pile of spreadsheets and saw Clark standing uncertainly in the doorway. “What can I do for you, Clark?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you. I actually came here to say hi to my mom, but when I got here I realized I don’t know if that’s okay.”

“It’s fine, but keep the visits short, no more than five minutes. My father has a very strict sense of ‘time is money’.” He folded the spreadsheets and put them back in the file cabinet; years of training told him never to leave papers lying around. Not that he didn’t trust Clark, but one never knew who else would wander through in the course of a day. “You’re welcome to stay, though.”

Clark smiled and shucked off his backpack and jacket, dropping them where Lex indicated and easily catching the can of Coke Lex tossed him from the mini fridge.

“I just had the felt on the pool table refinished,” said Lex, “Do you want to play?”

“Sure,” said Clark.

He led Clark to the pool room and set a snifter of brandy out to breathe. Clark stuck to Coke. “I hope your mother’s job isn’t causing friction in the house,” said Lex as he took aim and broke the triangle of balls.

Clark shrugged, embarrassed. “You know how my dad feels about your dad,” he said. He bent over the pool table, presenting Lex with a lovely long view of his back, and managed to sink three solid balls before one fell short of the goal, leaving Lex with the stripes.

“Not to mention how he feels about me,” said Lex. He popped an easy ball in the corner pocket, then went around the table to set up for a much harder shot off the six ball and into the side pocket.

“I think he’s starting to change his mind,” said Clark, “especially after you saved his life.” He winced as Lex scratched the cue ball. “Sorry.”

Lex shrugged, pretending diffidence. He still had difficulty getting over the fact that he’d killed a man. “And you, Clark?” he asked, trying to divert Clark’s attention. “How do you feel about your mother working here?”

Again, Clark managed even the trickiest shots with ease, and had only one ball left on the table by the time he relinquished the field to Lex. “I miss not having her around when I come home from school, but it’s kind of a relief, too. Even though she loved raising me, I always felt guilty that I took up all of her time and attention. Now she can have a life other than taking care of me.”

Between his mother’s death and the slew of nurses, caretakers and boarding schools his father had thrown at him, Lex couldn’t conceive of letting go of that kind of parental devotion. But then again, if his suspicions about Clark’s were correct, raising a toddler with that kind of strength must have been a harrowing experience. He suddenly had an image of Clark as a toddler, throwing a tantrum. What kind of damage could a toddler do with superhuman strength? If Clark had needed special attention as a child, it would definitely explain his present guilt.

“How do you do that?” he suddenly asked, indicating the table. “There’s no pool table in the Talon, and I can’t really see pool being a big draw on the Kent farm.”

It was Clark's turn to shrug, suddenly wary. “I guess I’m just good at it.”

“Clark, I hired the best pool hustler in New Orleans to teach me how to play, and I’m not as good as you are. It’s got to be more than natural talent.”

Clark didn’t look away from his gaze. “Pool is really a game of precision and control. I guess it just appeals to me.”

They played three more games, and Lex found himself enjoying the challenge. Among other things. For all that he and Clark were friends, theirs was more of a crisis bond, tested repeatedly under high stress. They didn’t get to relax like this as often as Lex would have liked.

Perhaps ‘relax’ was the wrong word, though. The on/off nature of pool meant that each got to watch while the other was preoccupied. Lex wasn’t entirely sure how much advantage Clark was taking of his own viewing privileges, but Lex was enjoying immensely the sight of Clark’s torso bending and rising over and over. And the fact that Clark had to move around the table to get different shots meant Lex got multiple views. It was unbelievably distracting.

*****

Clark wondered how the hell Lex could concentrate on the game. Certainly Clark wasn’t; the sight of Lex was distracting enough that Clark was actually making mistakes. Usually he could clear a pool table in less than a minute. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear that Lex was showing off for him, the way he leaned over the table or rested against the wall...

In the weeks since Desiree had wrecked havoc amongst the men of Smallville, Clark had been doing a lot of thinking about his sexuality. Desiree’s super-pheromones had completely overwhelmed worldly Lex Luthor and even happily-married Jonathan Kent, yet Clark had been almost completely unaffected. All the time he’d been growing up, Clark had thought the way he stumbled and fell whenever Lana walked by, the fact that it hurt him to look at her, was true love. Now he knew it was nothing more than a poison meteor she wore as a necklace, and once she’d sent the necklace off with Whitney, those sensations were gone. No chemistry, no agony or ecstasy, just a human being sending off pheromones his species didn’t react to.

Not that it mattered. There was a small knothole in the roof of the barn, souvenir of his first attempt at masturbation. The cracking sound had snapped him out of his sexual fantasy about Lana, and he’d watched, horrified, as a second blast of semen followed the first out the hole and through the roof. For the next few months he’d had nightmares about making love to Lana and blowing out her skull with his shotgun-blast of seed. It took him months before he dared, cautiously, touch his prick again, and even then he was careful to always aim his orgasms into the earth, where they could do no harm. Even though he now had his heat vision under control, there was no way he could even think about coming inside a girl.

A man was another story. A man could be inside him rather than the other way around, enter him, touch him, without dying. And so his fantasies turned to Lex, who seemed strong enough to handle almost anything; Lex’s hand stroking Clark’s cock, Lex inside him, panting and moaning against Clark’s throat...

“Your turn,” said Lex.

“What?”

“I said your turn. Am I boring you, Clark?”

“No! Sorry.” Clark bent over the table to take aim.

“What were you thinking about?” Lex asked.

 _*You.*_ “I was, ah, I was just--”

“Clark. If you don’t want to tell me, then don’t tell me. Just don’t lie.”

The cool look Lex shot him made Clark miserable. But he’d had it drilled into him since before he could talk, ‘Tell no one’. No matter how often Lex came through for him and his family. No matter that Lex was the one he automatically turned to in a crisis. Dammit.

“Do you remember what you said about Ryan?” asked Clark.

“That he was unusually insightful. That tumors of that size and placement were thought to contribute to ESP abilities.”

Clark looked up from the cue ball. “If he’d lived, what would you have done with that knowledge?”

Lex frowned at him. “You’re asking if I would have used him against my competitors? Experimented on him the way those doctors did? I’d like to think I’d never do that, especially not to an innocent child, but if there’s anything my father has taught me, it’s that life has a way of changing your perspective. If the stakes were high enough, yes, I probably would use him. I’d hate myself for doing it if it meant forcing him, but yes, I’d do it.”

Clark considered this. At least it had been an honest answer, even if it wasn’t the answer Clark had hoped for.

“You knew, though,” said Lex. “You knew what he was, and you didn’t tell me, even when you asked for my help. I thought we trusted each other more than that.”

“Lex, the things I’ve kept from you, I’ve kept from everyone.”

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not everyone.”

Dammit, he’d told Pete, and Pete had never put half as much on the line for Clark as Lex had. On the other hand, Pete’s dad wasn’t Lionel Luthor. And Lex stood there, waiting for an answer, his eyes growing colder with every moment of Clark’s indecision.

“The day of the meteor shower,” Clark began, and the look in Lex’s eyes immediately softened, grateful for Clark’s trust. Until the warmth came back Clark didn’t realize how much its absence hurt. “The day of the meteor shower, the meteors weren’t the only thing that hit Smallville.”

“There was a ship,” Lex offered.

“Yeah. There was a ship,” said Clark, his whole body tense, “and inside it there was an alien.”

“An alien,” Lex repeated, wrapping his mind around the concept.

“It looked just like a kid, a little kid,” said Clark. “But it wasn’t human. Even in the beginning, it was incredibly strong. And as it got older, it got more powerful.”

Lex’s eyes never left Clark’s face, but they showed no sign of either shock or guile. Just complete trust. “To a childless couple it must have seemed like a gift from the gods,” said Lex. “They’d need help from someone influential to fake the necessary paperwork, though.”

“And they told the kid over and over again that if anyone ever found out, they’d take him away and he’d never see his parents again. They kept telling him he could have a normal life if he just acted normal.”

“How’s it working so far?” Lex asked.

“Lots of work just to keep up appearances,” said Clark. “How does it look from the outside?”

“Not bad. If you hadn’t ripped the hood off my car the first day I came here, I never would have guessed. You play the ordinary farm boy pretty well. But the story of my life is powerful, arbitrary forces tossing me around: my father, the meteor shower, my mother’s cancer; when I’m touched by something powerful I don’t understand, I have to keep at it until I do understand it.”

“So what are you going to do now?” asked Clark.

*****

Lex stood back and thought about that one. He remembered the conversation he’d had with Ryan, about how evil was a path, not a lightswitch. _*You should remember that, Lex*_. “The same thing I’ve always done. I’m going to keep my friendship with you separate from my business. I won’t expose you. But I don’t make any promises about not asking you to use your powers for my benefit. You’ve already used them once or twice to save me, just as I’ve used my money and influence to save you and your friends.”

“More than once or twice. I’m just good about not getting caught.”

Lex smiled. “What’s it like?”

“Scary. I always have to be so careful around other people. I’m afraid I’ll break them. And I’m still trying to find the limits of what I can do. Every time I think I have a handle on it, something new crops up.”

“Precision and control,” Lex echoed Clark’s earlier words. “And no one else knows about this?”

“My parents. And Pete found out. He saw the spaceship, if I hadn’t told him, he would have told the tabloids.”

“What about Lana?” said Lex, in what he hoped was a casual, arch tone. “Seems like a great way to get girls. I mean, if a jock like Whitney turns her on, super strength would blow her away.”

Clark flinched, and Lex wondered what nerve he had struck. “No, Lana doesn’t know. Neither does Chloe. And I’d like it to stay that way.”

“Clark?” Martha called, poking her head in the doorway. “Oh good, Antonia said you were here.”

“Hello, Mrs. Kent,” Lex greeted her.

“Hello, Lex,” she returned his smile, then looked back at Clark. “I wanted to tell you that Mr. Luthor is done with me for the day, if you want a ride home.”

Clark looked at Lex, and Lex nodded. “It’s okay, Clark, I’ve got a lot to think about. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Sure,” said Clark. He walked to the door. “And Lex?”

“Yes?”

“It was good talking to you.”

*****

Lex stood there in the darkening pool room for a long time, trying to sort it all out. Clark, an alien? Mr. Normal himself? He had been prepared to accept the idea of Clark being a meteor mutant, but he found it hard to believe there was something inherently different about Clark. He found it ironic that the person who best embodied what it meant to be a good man wasn’t even human. His admiration for Clark raised a notch. All this time, Lex had been envious of Clark, thinking that if only Lex had been raised by the Kents, being a good person would come easier to him, the way it seemed to be easy as breathing to Clark. No paranoia, no need for secrets or hidden agendas, just innocence. And all this time Clark had it even harder than him: more power to corrupt him, more reason to be paranoid and secretive.

And some small part of him purred with satisfaction, _*He told me of his own free will. He hasn’t even told Lana, and he told me.*_

He suddenly realized he was standing in complete darkness; night had fallen without his noticing. He felt his way out of the room and into the bright hallway, then down to the garage. He felt like a drive tonight.

*****

At dinner, Clark was quiet, lost in thought. Had he done the right thing, telling Lex? He had no guarantees that Lex wouldn’t use him, but then again, he had no guarantees that Pete, who was not only impulsive but also a hard drinker at parties, wouldn’t spill his secret by accident. It was too late to take it back. He had to trust that he’d made the right decision.

“Something wrong, Clark?” asked his mom.

“Sorry, I’ve just got a lot on my mind. We have a test next week on the Weimar Republic.”

“Don’t forget, tomorrow’s Saturday, I need you for chores,” said his dad.

“I know. I’m going to do my other homework tonight, and save the test for Sunday, so it’s fresh.” He stood up and carried his plate to the sink. “Mom? Dad? If I’m in love with someone, don’t I have to tell them what I am? Warn them what they’re getting into?”

His parents exchanged The Look, the one they always used when their super-human son forced them to own up to the fact that he could never have a normal life. Martha was the first to find words. “I think it would have to be something serious, something you thought would last. Lana’s a very nice girl, but relationships are so different in high school: you’re completely in love with someone one week, and the next you can’t stand them and you’re doing everything in your power to hurt them. Do you really want an ex-girlfriend having that kind of leverage over you?”

“Mom, I have heat vision, super strength, I can do a lot of damage when I get careless or upset. Don’t you think someone I date should be forewarned about that?”

“Clark,” said his dad, “Do you remember how badly you wanted to play football? It just wasn’t worth the risk. I’m not saying you can’t ever date, I’m just saying you’re going to have to decide when it’s worth it to take that risk.”

Clark stalked off to the barn, angry at his parents, angry at himself. Take the risk? They had no idea what kind of risk he was thinking of. They were worried about his secret. He was worried about blowing off the top of someone’s head with his semen, crushing them by hugging them too tight, burning them with his heat vision, slicing them open by thrusting too hard. His love scenes would be someone else’s horror movie.

“I’m going to be a monk for the rest of my life,” he moaned aloud as he climbed the stairs to his loft.

“Now there’s a healthy attitude,” said a sardonic voice at the top of the stairs.

Clark looked up at Lex. “What are you doing here?”

“I was in the neighborhood. Thought I’d stop by.”

“I didn’t hear your car.”

“It’s up the road. I didn’t want to interrupt dinner.” He tilted his head at the telescope. “Which one are you from?”

“I don’t know.” Clark climbed the rest of the stairs and Lex twisted his body slightly to let Clark pass. Their arms brushed. Clark paused a fraction of a second, enjoying the contact, but Lex was straight, with the conquests to prove it. No point in thinking about what he couldn’t have.

Lex turned to look at him. “I came here to tell you again that I’m grateful you shared your secret with me. I won’t betray that trust.”

“Thanks.”

“And I wanted to ask you, why me? Why not Lana?”

“Lana’s not the one I go to in a crisis. It’s okay if we keep secrets from each other; she and I are friends, but we’re not tested like that over and over. You and I, when I know you’re keeping something from me, or I’m lying to you, it hurts because we trust each other, because we count on each other. Because it matters to me.”

Lex closed the gap between them with a fencer’s impeccable eye for distance. “And why does it matter to you?”

Clark licked his dry lips, trapped by Lex’s steady gaze. What if he was wrong? What if he was misreading the whole situation, and Lex wasn’t coming on to him? Eyes open, watching Lex for a sign, he leaned forward and brushed his lips against Lex’s mouth.

Lex deepened the tentative kiss, gripping Clark’s shoulders, and Clark slid his hands over Lex’s lean back. Lex was so warm, kissing and sucking Clark’s mouth, one hand tangled in his hair, the other cupping the small of his back. Clark pressed against him and felt Lex’s cock rising within the confines of his perfectly pressed slacks. Clark ground against it, eager for more contact.

When they finally came up for air, Clark said, “I thought you were straight?”

“In the business world, homosexuality is seen as a weakness of character. They don’t respect gays for the same reason they don’t respect women. If you like being penetrated, being dominated, then you couldn’t possibly be a worthy opponent or a powerful ally. What about you? The all-American boy, in love with the girl next door, turns out to be a homosexual?”

“Homosexual means loving someone who’s the same as you. I don’t know what I am. I didn’t come with an instruction booklet.”

“Unless I missed something, you haven’t come at all yet,” said Lex, kissing him again.

Clark groaned against Lex’s mouth, smothering Lex’s laughter. He was very, very glad his father had insisted he train his heat vision to keep it separate from sexual arousal. He didn’t think burning down the barn would be a good idea just now.

He suddenly froze, hearing footsteps from the house. He broke away from the kiss. “Lex, my dad’s on his way in here.”

They had barely enough time to compose themselves before Jonathan Kent entered the loft. “Didn’t know you were here, Lex. I didn’t see your car.”

“I felt like a walk,” said Lex. “Good exercise.”

“Something I can do for you, Dad?” asked Clark.

“Just wanted to see how you were doing after that conversation we had.” He turned his attention back to Lex. “You probably shouldn’t be walking this late, there aren’t any lights along the road and you could get hit by a car. I can drive you home, or you can call the mansion from our phone and have someone pick you up.”

“I’ll be fine, thanks.”

They waited while Clark’s father left, then Lex kissed Clark again. “I should go.”

“Mmm,” Clark said, and kissed Lex’s throat.

“Clark, the only thing worse than my father disowning me for seducing you would be your father coming after me with a shotgun for seducing -- ohhh, right there.”

Clark pulled away from Lex and fumbled with the buttons on Lex’s shirt. Lex’s hands intertwined with his, mirroring his movements to undo Clark’s flannel shirt and pull it down. Lex’s chest was as hairless as Clark’s own, but the muscles in his torso were actually a little more defined than Clark’s, courtesy of the fact that Clark had never tested the upper limits of his strength with regular exercise. But now that their shirts were off, Clark had absolutely no clue what to do.

Thankfully, Lex did. He bent down and began sucking and biting Clark’s left nipple, twisting the right one between his thumb and finger. Clark threw his head back, eyes clenched, gasping for air, trying to keep control. His cock ached in his jeans, in another minute it would break free if he didn’t do something.

Clark pulled Lex away from his chest and imitated what Lex had just done, sucking and teasing Lex’s nipples first gently, then harder, at Lex’s urging. He managed to unbuckle and unzip Lex’s belt and pants without ripping either, and eased Lex’s boxers down to his ankles, where Lex toed off his shoes and stepped out of his clothes.

It was the first time Clark had ever been able to look freely at a naked person before, and he was not disappointed. Lex’s pale skin made him look like a marble statue, almost luminescent, except for the ruddy shaft rising out of a tangle of copper curls. And again, Clark paused, at a loss for what to do.

Lex urged Clark to stand up and started unbuckling Clark’s belt even as he bent to kneel before Clark. “Here, let me show you.”

“No!” Clark jerked away from him, suddenly scared. A horrible image of Lex’s brains splattered all over the walls...

“Clark?”

Clark tried to find words that wouldn’t scare Lex off. “I’ve never done anything with a person before. I’m scared if I lose control, I could hurt you.” He knelt before Lex and looked up at him. “Just tell me what to do.”

Lex paused a moment, then turned and reached for his clothes. Clark felt an ache of disappointment, but all Lex did was fish through his pockets for a condom packet.

Clark smiled in relief. He hadn’t chased Lex off. “You don’t need that. I told you, I’m a virgin.”

“Yeah, but I’m not.”

“Lex, I can’t get sick. I’ve never even had a cold. It’s just part of who I am.” He took the condom from Lex’s hand and dropped it on the floor.

*****

Lex stared down at the teenager kneeling between his legs. Clark had no idea how sexy his innocent intensity was, how much Lex was looking forward to telling Clark exactly how to make him come. “I want you to lick me. Long strokes from the root to the head and around the head like an ice cream cone.”

Clark’s tongue slid up and around Lex’s cock with an agonizing slowness, pausing to catch a tiny bead of pre-come that gathered at the tip. He held Lex’s buttocks for balance, hands soft despite years of farm work, his tongue stroking the length of Lex’s shaft, mutely urging it to grow larger and harder.

“Ah! No, no, don’t stop, it doesn’t hurt, don’t stop,” Lex begged. “Now keep your lips against your teeth and slip it into your mouth. Just the head.”

Clark obeyed, slipping the large head in and out of his mouth, swirling his tongue around the underside before sucking it back into his mouth again. Lex’s hands twisted in Clark’s hair, the sensations were so good they hurt. It took all Lex’s self control not to thrust. Clark sucked harder, sliding more and more of Lex’s cock in and out of his mouth, and Lex took one of Clark’s hands and led it to the tiny, sensitive spot behind his balls. “Very, very gently, Clark.”

He could feel his cock hitting the back of Clark’s throat, but he was too far gone to stop now. “Try yawning, Clark. Let your throat open.”

And then he slid all the way in, feeling Clark’s powerful throat shift and tighten around his cock. _*Oh god. He could kill me, castrate me, I wouldn’t have a chance. Oh god, Clark, you have no idea how good this feels, but I promise, I’ll show you. Oh Clark, oh god, I’m coming!*_

*****

Clark felt the enormous obstruction in his throat quiver and pulse as Lex’s seed rocketed down his throat. Clark continued to suck, enjoying the sensation, until Lex softened and pulled out. Lex took a moment to recover, loosening his death grip on Clark’s hair, then looked down at Clark’s erection. “Are you sure I can’t...”

Clark stood up and pointed at the shingled-over hole in the roof. “That’s what happens when I come. I can’t control it. You can’t even touch me, if you were in front of me it would just go right through you.” He smiled wistfully. “This was great, though. I’m fine with this.”

“I don’t accept that,” said Lex. He urged Clark over to the couch. “Lie down on your stomach.”

Clark obeyed, and Lex lay on top of him, reaching around to wrap his hand around Clark’s cock. Clark whimpered, it felt so good, and he was scared of losing control. It was just like trying to tickle yourself: having someone else touch you was a hundred times more powerful than touching yourself. Lex’s hands milked Clark’s shaft, teased his balls, and all Clark’s muscles locked up in pleasure, terrified of losing control.

“Clark, I’m behind you. You can’t hurt me.” Lex slowly pushed one finger inside Clark.

“Oh god!” Clark could feel the heat boiling behind his eyes _*focus it down into your toes! Keep it down!*_ and then Lex touched a hidden trigger and Clark lost it completely. A heat ray shot through the window and singed the window frame.

“Jesus!” Lex cried.

“Don’t stop!” Clark begged. “Oh god, don’t stop!”

Lex’s hand quickened its pace on Clark’s cock, and the finger inside him kept hitting that incredible pleasure point, but Clark needed more. “I want you inside me, Lex,” he begged. “God, I need you inside me.”

Lex pulled away and Clark nearly wept with frustration, but Lex was frantically searching Clark’s desk drawers, finally finding the jar of Vaseline in the drawer next to the box of tissues. He scooped a healthy portion onto his once-again hardening cock and spread Clark open.

Clark felt Lex’s shaft push inside him, and he tried to will himself to relax. It felt so right, being entered, taken, having someone else in control for a little while. Lex’s hand found Clark’s cock again, and his shaft was hitting that trigger inside Clark with devastating accuracy. Clark could feel his orgasm building, more powerful than it had ever been in his life.

“Lex!”

Clark’s seed blasted through the couch, though the floor, shot after shot pounding two stories down into the earth. Inside him he felt Lex’s thrusts grow urgent, then Lex was shooting his second orgasm into Clark, his hand still milking Clark’s pulsing cock.

They stayed that way for a long time, until Lex’s shrinking member finally pulled out of Clark. “Lex, that was incredible, I -- Lex? Lex?”

Lex’s eyes were closed, his body limp. For one terrible moment, Clark thought he’d killed his lover, until Lex’s soft, deep breathing told him Lex was only sleeping. Clark sagged in relief. He kissed Lex’s smooth scalp, and fell asleep.

***Chapter II: The Little Death***

Lex woke up and for a moment he didn’t know where he was. Then he saw Clark curled up under him and he remembered. People had always told him sex was a hundred times more intense when it was with someone you loved, but when the person you loved had the powers of a god, words failed to describe it.

Super strength, heat vision, an orgasm that blasted holes though the couch and floor, and god only knew what else. Clark could have killed him a dozen times over last night if his control had slipped even a little. Lex was lucky to be alive. He looked down and stroked Clark’s cheek. Very lucky.

He slid off the couch and stretched, smiling every time he looked back at Clark. For a farm boy, Clark sure wasn’t a morning person, and that left Lex with a dilemma. On the one hand, leaving before Clark woke up was a horrible, hurtful thing to do. On the other hand, if he waited for Clark to wake up, there was always a chance Jonathan or Martha Kent would come in to wake their boy and get a nasty shock.

He reached for his clothes, trying to make up his mind, and had an idea. He unfastened his left cufflink, adorned with a double, entwined L, and placed it on Clark’s palm, curling his fingers around it. Then he put on his clothes and walked out.

*****

“Rise and shine, Clark, the cows don’t feed themselves.”

Clark reached over to pull a cushion over his face and drown out his father’s voice, and something dropped as he opened his hand. He picked it up. Lex’s cufflink. Clark grinned and jumped up with unusual enthusiasm.

*****

Lex had worried that it would be hard for him and Clark to spend time together without anyone finding out, but they’d both been keeping secrets for so long that it was second nature to them. Even the caveat that they always had to make love outdoors, where Clark’s seed couldn’t destroy furniture or walls, was hardly a limit to a boy with super speed and a boy with an all-terrain vehicle. And Clark’s abilities were very handy for keeping secrets: super hearing and X-ray vision, and if those failed, super speed to escape before someone saw them.

And the sex was incredible. Lex loved driving Clark to the absolute limits of his control, and Clark loved pleasuring Lex in every way possible. But Lex couldn’t help feeling selfish every time he entered Clark or let Clark suck him off, knowing a hand job was the best he could offer in return. After more than a month of persuasion, Lex finally got Clark to agree that Lex could lick him a little, as long as he stopped long before Clark was much aroused.

Luthors were not very good at accepting limitations.

So one day he surprised Clark in his ‘fortress of solitude’. Clark had been lying on the couch reading a thick textbook when Lex walked in, but he looked up and smiled when Lex came over and kissed him on the forehead. “Clark, I wanted to talk to you about something. And I want you to hear me out and think about it before you say no.”

“This already sounds bad,” Clark joked. He sat up and Lex sat down, leaning against each other. Lex pulled a little lead box out of his pocket. “Remember what you told me about the meteors?” said Lex. “How they take away your powers?”

Clark nodded. “They’re poison. You remember how you found me out in the cornfield with Lana’s necklace around my neck? I thought I was going to die.”

“I didn’t realize it was so bad,” said Lex. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. No, he had to try, at least. “I thought maybe a small enough chip would be able to steal your powers without making you sick. Even if it was temporary, it would be enough for you to fuck me the way I’ve fucked you.” The harsh language had its usual effect on Clark’s skin tone despite the seriousness of the situation.

Clark stared at his hands in his lap for a long time. “It’s too dangerous. It would be too hard to find a balance between a chip powerful enough to keep me from hurting you without being so powerful that it started hurting me.”

“I thought of that. I thought this through.”

He looked over at Lex’s lap, in which rested the little lead box. “It’s in there?”

Lex opened the box and took out a silver ring with a hinged lead boss. “In the Renaissance, people wore rings like these filled with poison. I figured this way I can open it to weaken you and close it quickly if anything goes wrong.”

Clark reached over and opened the ring, and instantly jerked back, the cords in his neck working as he fought to breathe normally.

“Clark?” Lex shut the ring’s compartment again. “Clark, are you okay?”

Clark nodded. “It was just a shock. I want to do this. Come on, try it again.”

This time Lex raised his arms in the air to get a little more distance between Clark and the green poison gem. He opened the ring again. Clark started hyperventilating a little, but after a while he began inching his hands upwards to meet Lex’s, his eyes tearing with pain as he clenched his hands around the gemstone.

“Clark? It’s hurting you, Clark, I think I should put this away. This was a bad idea.”

Clark took the ring from him and slid it onto Lex’s finger. Holding Lex’s hand, he stared out the window for a moment. The room warmed a little, but no devastating heat burst from Clark’s eyes. Clark’s hand clenched Lex’s, carefully at first, then with greater pressure, but his grip wasn’t strong enough to hurt Lex. The look in his eyes was slightly concerned and lethargic, but the pain didn’t seem to be as bad anymore. Clark leaned over and kissed him, softly, clumsily, and Lex was the strong one now, kissing a line down Clark’s throat to his collarbone, gently easing him out of his clothes. He watched his lover carefully for any sign of distress, but so far Clark seemed to be all right.

Clark’s powers made him invulnerable to pain, but they didn’t cut off sensation, only injury. If he had been unable to feel, he would never have been able to fine-tune his control to the extent that he had. Clark without his powers was not hypersensitive as Lex had theorized, he was languorous, vulnerable. But as he kissed Lex, he grew more confident, testing the new limits of his strength, and joy brightened his eyes.

Lex reached down and teased Clark’s balls, and Clark threw his head back and clenched his fists in the familiar pose of control. “Let go,” Lex urged. “You can’t hurt me.” He started biting and sucking Clark’s nipples, and Clark’s hands slowly found their way to Lex’s back, holding him close. And when Lex reached down again to tease Clark’s balls and hardening cock, he actually felt Clark’s fingernails digging into his back in careful experiment. “Yes, just like that. Let go.”

He shucked his own clothes, pausing to grab the little tube of lubricant out of his pocket, and slathered a generous portion over Clark’s shaft before using the rest to prepare himself.

Clark kissed him urgently, sucking Lex’s tongue and lower lip. “I can’t believe this is actually happening,” he whispered. “I didn’t think I’d ever get to ... you know.”

Lex laughed and slid a throw pillow under himself. “I want to watch you. I want to watch you fuck me. Are you okay? Do you need me to shut the ring?”

Clark shook his head. “I’m fine. I can handle it. I don’t want to stop.” He leaned over Lex and Lex brought his knees up under Clark’s armpits, offering himself. Clark pushed a couple of inches inside Lex and paused, trembling. “Oh god, it’s so hot and tight! I didn’t know anything could feel this good!”

“It gets better,” Lex promised. He wrapped his legs and arms around his lover’s back and urged Clark to go deeper. Clark was hitting his prostate now, driving in and out with agonizing slowness, driving Lex insane. Clark bent down to kiss him, and now Lex’s cock rubbed back and forth between their two bellies, and Clark was inside him, and--

Rough hands seized the ring off his finger. Lex opened his eyes just in time to see Jonathan Kent pitch it through the window, then he turned back, face red with fury, to tear Lex away from Clark. “What the hell do you think you’re doing to my son, Lex?” he yelled.

“Don’t you knock?” Lex snapped, grabbing the throw pillow to shield his nudity.

“I thought I heard something. I’ve been calling up here for five minutes, didn’t you hear me? What the hell were you doing to him?”

“Dad, you don’t understand...” Clark protested weakly. His face looked gray.

“What was I doing to him?” Lex echoed. “Is this some kind of revisionist history? He was fucking me!”

Clark’s father reached over and gently forced his son to turn over and display his back. There, where Lex had been clutching him, sick green threads made their way through his back like a spiderweb of gangrene. “You could have killed him, Lex. I want you out of here now. I don’t want you to come anywhere near my son again.”

“Dad, no!” Clark begged. He used his discarded shirt to cover himself. “Dad, I love him. And he loves me. I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid of what you would think.”

Lex took advantage of the Kents’ distraction to get dressed and hand Clark his jeans. Jonathan looked away while his son put on some clothes.

“Dad, it’s my powers. They go completely haywire when I get ... excited. Lex and I have been together for a while now, and we’ve always been careful, but I was tired of being careful! Just once I wanted to feel what normal people feel.”

“Mr. Kent, it was my idea, not Clark’s. I’m the one to blame.”

“Oh believe me, I do. Goodbye, Lex. I need to talk to Clark alone.”

*****

Clark waited silently until he heard Lex drive off. The effects of the meteor were slowly wearing off. Between the sex and the meteor, he’d felt like he was drifting into a pleasant sleep. If his dad hadn’t come along, would Lex have noticed in time, or would Clark have died?

“You told him your secret. Lex Luthor, of all people.”

“He’s not like his father, Dad, he’s a good man. He’s helped us out a dozen times, even when he would have been better off walking away. He saved your life, why can’t you cut him a little slack?”

“Clark, being like your parents isn’t a conscious choice. A lot of times you end up becoming like them despite your best intentions. Lex lives in that world. He has to draw on those parts of himself if he wants to succeed as a businessman. Sooner or later, it’s going to take him over.”

“I don’t believe that,” said Clark. The old argument. “You’re not upset about the fact that I was making out with a guy?”

“I haven’t absorbed it yet. You have no idea what that looked like, the two of you together, that meteor on top of you. And you let him poison you with it? For kicks?”

“Dad, remember that time when I was thirteen and I was playing with your gun and I blew a hole in the roof?”

“Yeah...?” said his dad, confused about the change in topic.

“I wasn’t playing with your gun,” Clark blushed bright red. “I was playing with myself.” He didn’t dare look at his father, and the silence grew more and more uncomfortable. “Just now, that was my first time,” he said softly.

His father put an arm around Clark’s shoulders. “You don’t have an easy cross to bear. I’m sorry for that, son. But Lex Luthor?”

“He’s not afraid of me or in awe of what I can do. And he cares about me, Dad. Isn’t that what’s supposed to be important?”

*****

Lex paced back and forth in his study, debating the merits of stopping Mrs. Kent on her way to work and apologizing to her. On the one hand, it seemed like the best entree back into the Kents’ good graces, on the other, since going blind his father had developed an incredibly keen sense of hearing.

There came a soft rap on the door.

“Come in,” Lex called. “Mrs. Kent! I was about to go down and meet you. You’re early.”

“I know. I wanted to talk to you. Jonathan told me what happened, and the three of us have been doing a lot of talking. But I wanted to hear your side of it.”

Lex frowned, trying to think of the right words. I’m sorry I nearly killed your son? “I seem to keep getting Clark in trouble. I’m sorry for that. It was a stupid risk.” He waited for her to say something, to scream at him or rush with platitudes about how it was really all right, but she seemed content to give him enough rope to hang himself. “Clark ... Clark’s the sort of person I want to be. Ever since my first day here, he’s been making me look at who I am, and I don’t like what I see. I’ve been a jaded socialite since I could pronounce the word, and if my father has his way I’ll end up as bitter and manipulative as he is. But Clark has this blind trust in people, like he takes it for granted that they’ll be as good as he is. He’s the reason I’m trying to run my business better, to keep Smallville economically healthy instead of buying it up and selling it for parts. I want to build something he’ll be proud of. Something I can be proud of.”

“My husband is a stubborn man,” said Martha. “It means he stands by his convictions, even when times get hard, and that’s part of what I love about him. Unfortunately, it also means he finds it difficult to get over bad first impressions. But Clark doesn’t get a lot of chances at happiness, and Jonathan is willing to wait and see. You and Clark can date, if it’s what you both want. But neither of us will stand idly by if you ever hurt or manipulate him. Do you understand me?” At Lex’s elated nod, she added, “I know what Clark sees in you, Lex. I just hope it’s enough. You boys have a lot pulling against you.” She checked her watch. “Speaking of which, your father is expecting me. I have to run or I’ll be late.”

“Mrs. Kent?” She paused in the doorway. “I won’t let you down.”

He walked out after her and turned left, down the main staircase, when she turned right. He walked down to the garage and chose the new silver Porsche, the least ostentatious of his cars at the moment. Then he drove to the Kent farm. He found Jonathan and Clark putting up a new fence in their south pasture. They had stopped when they heard a car approaching, but when Clark saw it was Lex, he went back to driving fence posts into the ground with his bare hands. Lex grinned and shook his head. _*And he’s mine,*_ he thought.

“Something we can do for you, Lex?”

“Actually, Mr. Kent, it’s the other way around. I have a meeting with the governor at twelve-thirty, but I thought until then I might see if you needed help.”

Clark paused in his work again, watching his father hopefully.

Jonathan sized him up. “You’ll get those clothes filthy.”

“They’re the clothes I have.”

Jonathan handed him a spare hammer. “You can help me nail the slats to the posts.”

The work itself was annoying, dull and sweaty, and Lex had a cramp in his back after the first half hour or so. But the three of them found a steady rhythm of work, and Lex found it a welcome change to have Clark’s father handing him nails and telling up to lift a board or lower it a little instead of glowering and waiting for him to prove himself a true, evil Luthor. And it was worth it to watch Clark work, to watch him enjoy using his powers. He usually tried so hard to make himself ordinary, and Lex wondered what he could become if he ever let go, accepted his power and embraced his destiny.

Lex was actually sorry when his time ran out. “I have to go back, hit the showers and change clothes,” he said.

“I’ll see you later,” Clark promised.

*****

That night, Lex drove up the Kents’ driveway for the second time. Jonathan watched him from the porch. “You know it’s not that simple, Lex. A couple hours of chores doesn’t change anything.”

“I know.” _*But I want in. Not just into Clark’s life. I want into a family where I don’t have to be paranoid all the time. Where the people I love aren’t plotting behind my back. One way or another, I’m going to win your trust.*_

As he passed the porch, heading for the barn, Jonathan called out to him again. “Lex?”

“Yes, Mr. Kent?”

“Don’t get yourselves killed up there.”

End.


End file.
